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Collection

Anonymous diary [attributed to Sarah Ruckman], 1859-1860

1 volume

Diary of a young woman who was born 20 April 1838. In 2021, the diary was attributed to Sarah Ruckman. The diary reflects on her personal and religious activities, and describes a fire at the Normal School.

The diary reflects on the woman's personal, family, and religious activities, and describes a fire at the Michigan State Normal School.

Collection

Seth K. Shetterly papers, 1829-1934

2 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Utica, Michigan attorney, justice of the peace, and state representative. Correspondence mainly concerning family, legal, and political affairs; also scattered municipal and township records, 1846-1865, for Utica and Shelby and Sterling townships in Macomb County, Michigan, especially school records; and miscellaneous business and legal papers, poems, essays, and notebooks.

The papers of Seth K. Shetterly cover the years 1835-1934 though the bulk of the material falls between 1850 and 1890. The papers are arranged into four series: Correspondence, Municipal and Township Records, Miscellaneous Papers, and Diaries and Ledgers.

Collection

Wait-Packard family letters, 1851-1895 (majority within 1868-1883)

41 items

This collection consists of letters that Stephen Edwin Wait of Traverse City, Michigan, exchanged with his second wife, Ellen Packard of Racine, Wisconsin, before and in the early years of their marriage, as well as additional letters to Wait and Packard from family members. The correspondence pertains to the couple's relationship; their views on the afterlife, marriage, and other subjects; Packard family news from Racine, Wisconsin; and life at the Michigan State Normal School in 1895.

This collection consists of 37 letters and 4 calling cards related to Stephen Edwin Wait of Traverse City, Michigan, and his second wife, Ellen Packard of Racine, Wisconsin.

The correspondence primarily consists of letters between Stephen E. Wait (S. E. Wait) and Ellen Packard, beginning after the death of Wait's first wife, Louisa, a childhood friend of Packard's, and continuing into the first year of their marriage. They discussed Louisa's death, their beliefs about the afterlife, their opinions on marriage, social norms, and other subjects. After proposing marriage in his letter of January 1, 1870, Wait attempted to describe himself in more detail and offered to travel to Racine, preferring to meet Packard before marrying her. After their marriage, he described his boat trips from Traverse City to Chicago along Lake Michigan and she shared family news from Wisconsin.

Additional correspondence includes a letter to S. E. Wait from Samuel and Sarah E. Scott in Clinton, Ohio, who discussed Samuel's teaching work and local schools (December 22, 1851); a letter from Ellen Packard to Louisa Wait (March 13, 1864); and several letters to Wait from his mother (1 item) and an aunt, Phoebe Hill (4 items). After 1871, Wait and Packard received a letter from Lewis G. Steven, a self-described "Indian medicine man" who wished to work in Wait's store (July 28, 1879), and several members of the Packard family, who reported on life in Racine and commented on the deaths and estates of Ellen Packard's parents, Roswell and Susan Packard.

The final item is a 10-page letter that Minnie [Wait] wrote to her brother Edmund about life at the Michigan State Normal School in Ypsilanti, Michigan (October 27, 1895). She described a "new woman" who adopted masculine habits and dress and discussed a day in her scholarly life at the school. The collection also contains 4 calling cards; one item consists of two cards tied together with a ribbon.

Collection

Ypsilanti State Normal School Photograph Album, 1876-1877

20 photographs in 1 album

The Ypsilanti State Normal School photograph album contains 20 photographs of teachers and students associated with Ypsilanti State Normal School (now known as Eastern Michigan University).

The Ypsilanti State Normal School photograph album contains 20 photographs of teachers and students associated with Ypsilanti State Normal School (now known as Eastern Michigan University).

The album (15 x 11.5 cm) has black leather covers with “Cartes De Visite” gilt-stamped on the front and a metal locking clasp. An “Index to Portraits” appears towards the front, though it does not match the current arrangement of photographs. A total of 18 cartes de visite and 2 tintypes are present.

The first image in the album is a view of two buildings captioned “Ypsilanti State Normal in 1876 when Mr. & Mrs. M. J. Erwin attended.” Subsequent photographs consist entirely of individual and group studio portraits, all of which include handwritten captions identifying people and in some cases occupations, dates, and locations. Persons pictured include Ypsilanti State Normal School teachers, administrators, and students as well as individuals associated with the McKibbin and Erwin families of Commerce and Southfield, Oakland County, Michigan. Portraits of superintendent Joseph Estabrook, geography instructor Anna Cutcheon, science instructor J. A. McLouth, and preceptress Ruth Hoppin are all included towards the front of the album.

The signature of “John McKibbin” appears on the album’s first page. A man identified as John McKibbin also appears in three photographs, one of which includes an additional caption in differently colored ink that reads “My Brother.” The additional caption was likely written by McKibbin’s sister Mary C. McKibbin Erwin, whose portrait is also included alongside one of her husband Matthew J. Erwin. All three individuals attended Ypsilanti State Normal School together.